The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a direct instruction model as a means of enhancing secondary students' schema for expository text. Subjects were seventh- and tenth-grade students in regular reading and English classes in an suburban school district. Students were pre- and posttested on four measures: attitude toward expository text, independent reading comprehension and recall from expository text, organization of information from expository text in notetaking, and expository writing. A nested analysis of covariance procedure was used for data analysis to account for teacher effects and group non-equivalence. The study was conducted over a six-week period in the spring semester. A model of direct instruction in analysis of expository text structure was developed by the researcher, using sample text passages similar to those encountered by seventh- and tenth-grade students in content area reading. Treatment group teachers were provided with lesson plans and materials and were given instruction in the model; comparison group classes were given no particular instructional treatment other than that normally conducted during this period.

歐佩娟. / 據手稿本影印. / Thesis (M.A.)--香港中文大學敎育學院. / Ju shou gao ben ying yin. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-116). / Ou Peijuan. / Thesis (M.A.)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue jiao yu xue yuan. / Chapter 第一章 --- 導言 --- p.1 / 問題說明 --- p.1 / 有關文獻 --- p.7 / 研究問題 --- p.39 / 假設 --- p.40 / Chapter 第二章 --- 研究方法 --- p.45 / 研究設計 --- p.45 / 研究對象與取樣 --- p.47 / 研究工具 --- p.49 / 實驗程序 --- p.56 / 選卷程序 --- p.58 / 資料整理 --- p.58 / 資料分析 --- p.60 / Chapter 第三章 --- 結果與討論 --- p.63 / 畫句成績、撮寫成績、主題成績對閱讀理解成績影響的研究 --- p.63 / 畫句成績、撮寫成績、主題成績與閱讀理解成績的多項關係研究 --- p.74 / 畫句成績、撮寫成績、主題成績與三個層次閱讀理解成績的關係之研究 --- p.86 / Chapter 第四章 --- 摘要、結論及建議 --- p.94 / 摘要 --- p.94 / 結論 --- p.98 / 建議 --- p.101 / 參攷文獻 --- p.105 / Chapter 附錄 --- 一、本研究樣本學生的男女分佈圖 --- p.117 / 二、畫句測驗 --- p.118 / 三、撮寫測驗 --- p.120 / 四、主題測驗 --- p.122 / 五、閱讀理解測驗 --- p.123 / 六、畫句測驗標準答案 --- p.127 / 七、撮寫測驗標準答案 --- p.128 / 八、主題測驗標準答案 --- p.130 / 九、閱讀理解測驗標準答案 --- p.131 / 十、本研究樣本的廢卷分佈圖 --- p.134

Metacomprehension refers to the ability to judge one's own comprehension. Studies in the literature have shown that generating keywords after reading helps adults and children make comprehension judgments that are better correlated with their actual comprehension. Researchers have also found that when metacomprehension is framed in terms of confidence, there is an effect of ability, where individuals with low ability tend to be overconfident in their judgments, while those with high ability tend to be underconfident. This paper describes two experiments investigating metacomprehension in seventh graders. Experiment 1 sought to replicate and extend the finding that generating keywords after reading improves the accuracy of comprehension judgments and the effectiveness of study choices. To account for potential effects of time on task, participants in the control condition were asked to read passages twice in lieu of generating keywords. Two measures of metacomprehension accuracy (signed differences and gamma correlations) were based on comprehension judgments taken at two time points (pre-test and post-test). The moderating effects of reading ability were also examined. The results of Experiment 1 showed that participants were overconfident in their judgments of their own comprehension. Overconfidence was greater for pre-test predictions than for post-test reflections, and it was also greater for participants with lower reading ability. Generating keywords caused participants to become significantly less overconfident- or more accurate- from pre-test to post-test in their comprehension judgments, but it did not actually boost comprehension scores. In other words, generating keywords helped participants know that they did not know; it did not, however, help them know more. In Experiment 2, the investigation of generating keywords and rereading text was situated within a new context incorporating practice test questions. Studies have shown that practice testing is an effective study strategy. Additionally, since researchers have found that learners can use information about peer performance as a basis for making judgments about themselves, Experiment 2 also asked whether peer collaboration might increase metacomprehension accuracy. Participants were randomly assigned to four conditions: individual/keyword, individual/reread, collaborate/keyword, and collaborate/reread. All participants answered practice test questions; participants in the individual conditions worked on the questions alone, while participants in the collaborative conditions discussed the questions with a partner. As in Experiment 1, participants in Experiment 2 were also overconfident in judging their own comprehension. Again, there was an effect for time of judgment, such that predictions were more overconfident than were reflections. Surprisingly, peer collaboration was found to lead to greater overconfidence in comprehension judgments. Participants who collaborated with a peer were more overconfident than participants who worked alone. Experiment 2 showed that in the presence of practice testing and peer collaboration, the interactive effect of keyword generation and time of judgment was minimized. Within the keyword group, participants who collaborated and participants who worked alone did not differ in overconfidence. Within the reread group, however, participants who collaborated were significantly more overconfident than those who worked alone. Taken together, these two studies suggest that middle school students are generally overconfident in their judgments of comprehension. However, the results indicate that study strategies designed to enhance comprehension and learning can be effective in reducing students' overconfidence about themselves.

This dissertation examines how the reading of complex literary texts is enacted by select tenth-grade students, and their teachers, both within and outside of the classroom context, with an aim toward deconstructing "close reading" as a preferred pedagogical choice with insufficient theorization or supporting research. First, utilizing an individual think-aloud protocol, the researcher solicited the responses of nine students, and one of their tenth-grade English teachers, as they read for the first time three short story texts selected based on their identification by the Common Core State Standards as texts of complexity for high school students: Chekhov's Home, Poe's The Cask of Amontillado, and Borges' The Garden of Forking Paths. Those case study students were then studied ethnographically via the researcher's participant observation in their tenth-grade English classes for all days over the period of time that a major literary text was taught: Golding's Lord of the Flies. Based on the principles of microethnographic discourse analysis, the research applied open coding to all artifacts: the think-aloud commentaries, the verbatim transcripts of the audiotaped classroom oral discourse, the documents of classroom written discourse, and the verbatim transcripts of ongoing semi-structured individual interviews with the student and teacher case study participants based on themselves as readers both within and outside of their English classroom contexts. Ultimately, the dissertation identifies themes related to text complexity - those elements inherent to the text itself as perceived by the individual reader during the reading act - and related to text difficulty - those elements situated within a contextualized environment of the reading act, including individual reader, text, classroom, tasks, peers, and teacher - to offer provisional conclusions with the intent of reconceptualizing Rosenblatt's transactional zone toward a stronger theory of how adolescents read literary texts.

No description available.

This study examines the experiences of teachers and students in secondary English classes, as they engage in the reading of contemporary adolescent fiction, when such fiction is set as a class text. This study also includes an examination of students' perceptions of such reading, and of reading in general. The aim of the study is to add to the knowledge about what actually goes on inside English classrooms during the teaching of literature, and within that field, to specify how teacher-student interaction in the classroom defines and positions the kinds of meanings that are made of literary texts. Therefore, this study focuses on the teaching of units of work related to the reading of adolescent fiction novels by three South Australian English teachers, based in three different metropolitan schools.The central focus is on the teachers? plans for these units of work, and on the outcomes: that is, on teacher-student interactions during the time spent in class on the novel, and on students? written and oral responses. Thus this study also focuses on the learning that took place in these classrooms, as students made meaning from their reading.In the review of the literature, the role of the literary novel as the class ?set text? in its several historical contexts is examined, as well as current theories of reading, of pedagogy, and of literary criticism. Finally this study is placed in the context of other related studies and its contribution to the field explained.An interpretive approach is employed and methods of educational ethnography are used to what was visualised from the outset would be qualitative research in the form of case studies. Some quantification is used in this research to report on a small-scale survey, using a questionnaire to create a ?readers? profile of the cohort of student-informants as a whole. Metaphors were used to encapsulate the teachers? teaching styles, and their intentions and practices analysed to uncover the underlying theories on which these intentions and practices were based. Throughout, but especially in the final chapter, the related notions of ?enjoyment? and ?the teaching of reading? at secondary school levels, as well as the concept of reflectivity, are examined for their impact on reading pedagogy. Finally, some suggestions are made for possible and desirable future research and teacher professional development. / thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2002.

Thesis (MEd (Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

本研究目的在於應用促進學習的評估理念，設計一套以評估提升香港中學二年級學生基本和高層次閱讀能力的實驗教學課程，以了解利用評估提升學生閱讀能力的成效。研究利用前測及後測考卷，對比學生在接受實驗教學前後的閱讀能力水平，結果發現利用評估有助提升學生的閱讀能力，特別是「理解篇章深層意義」和「建構個人新知識及看法」的能力。而利用評估提升學習成效，又以低程度閱讀能力的學生得益最大，對於「理解基本／表層文意」、「理解篇章深層意義」和「建構個人新知識及看法」三個能力層次均有顯著提升。研究結果顯示利用評估有助提升學生的閱讀能力，但亦須注意評估與教學內容的配合，特別是結合篇章理解策略教學，才可進一步發揮遷移及持久作用，達到促進學習的效果。 This study investigated the effectiveness of using reading assessment to enhance the Grade 8 students’ basic and higher-order reading ability. A group of 39 grade 8 students were assigned to learn an experimental reading instruction programme which is based on the theories of assessment for learning. Comparing the results of pre-test and post-test, students’ reading ability is found to be improved. The results indicated that students demonstrated significant gains from pre-test to post-test. Moreover, low achievers benefited most from the reading instruction programme. Their three levels of reading ability, including “understanding of basic / surface meaning”, “understanding of implicit meaning” and “construction of personal new knowledge and views”, were found to be improved. This study suggests using assessment for learning can enhance students’ reading ability. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

English language enjoys a high status in Hong Kong. Many parents enroll their children to language classes at a very young age aiming to get them into well-regarded schools for a better prospect. One way that can help learners improve English proficiency is through reading. However, when local students are streamed into different secondary schools, the motivation to read is lowered. This thesis aims at highlighting the different learning contexts of our students that contribute to reading. A new genre, graphic novel, is used to investigate the effectiveness to motivate secondary school students to read. Factors are also identified which may facilitate the revival of the interest of students of different backgrounds and abilities in reading. The study consists of 8 Form 3 (grade 9) students and 2 secondary English teachers. 5 students are studying in a secondary school with English as medium of instruction (EMI) and the other 3 students are studying in a secondary school with Chinese as medium of instruction (CMI). The 2 teachers are working in these two secondary schools respectively. This research was conducted using an action research approach. Questionnaires, interviews and students’ journals were used to achieve the aim of the study. The results reveal that graphic novel can positively motivate secondary school students to read. Teachers can also make use of the features of the genre to make the lessons more interesting. However, more research needs to be done about the introduction of the genre in classrooms and the value of the genre in improving the language proficiency. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education